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Friday, June 21, 2013
Ex-Enron CEO gets 10 years cut from sentence
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling is escorted from the federal courthouse Friday, June 21, 2013, in Houston after being re-sentenced for his role in the energy giants' collapse. Skilling was resentenced to 14 years as part of a court-ordered reduction and a separate agreement with prosecutors. The decision brought a protracted legal conclusion to one of the most notorious U.S. financial scandals. Skilling has been in prison since 2006, when he was sentenced to more than 24 years by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake. But an appeals court vacated his prison term in 2009, ruling that a sentencing guideline was improperly applied. That meant a reduction of as much as nine years. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling is escorted from the federal courthouse Friday, June 21, 2013, in Houston after being re-sentenced for his role in the energy giants' collapse. Skilling was resentenced to 14 years as part of a court-ordered reduction and a separate agreement with prosecutors. The decision brought a protracted legal conclusion to one of the most notorious U.S. financial scandals. Skilling has been in prison since 2006, when he was sentenced to more than 24 years by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake. But an appeals court vacated his prison term in 2009, ruling that a sentencing guideline was improperly applied. That meant a reduction of as much as nine years. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling arrives at the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse for a resentencing hearing Friday, June 21, 2013, in Houston. His original sentence of 24 years is expected to be reduced to between 14 and 17.5 years. His resentencing is part of a court-ordered reduction of his prison term and a separate agreement with prosecutors that will allow for the distribution of around $41 million in restitution to victims of Enron's collapse. (AP Photo /Houston Chronicle, Melissa Phillip )
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling leaves the federal courthouse Friday, June 21, 2013, in Houston after being resentenced for his role in the energy giants' collapse. Skilling was resentenced to 14 years as part of a court-ordered reduction and a separate agreement with prosecutors. The decision brought a protracted legal conclusion to one of the most notorious U.S. financial scandals. Skilling has been in prison since 2006, when he was sentenced to more than 24 years by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake. But an appeals court vacated his prison term in 2009, ruling that a sentencing guideline was improperly applied. That meant a reduction of as much as nine years. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling is escorted from the federal courthouse Friday, June 21, 2013, in Houston after being re-sentenced for his role in the energy giants' collapse. Skilling was resentenced to 14 years as part of a court-ordered reduction and a separate agreement with prosecutors. The decision brought a protracted legal conclusion to one of the most notorious U.S. financial scandals. Skilling has been in prison since 2006, when he was sentenced to more than 24 years by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake. But an appeals court vacated his prison term in 2009, ruling that a sentencing guideline was improperly applied. That meant a reduction of as much as nine years. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, right, partially shown behind a wall, arrives at the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse for a resentencing hearing Friday, June 21, 2013, in Houston. His original sentence of 24 years is expected to be reduced to between 14 and 17.5 years. His resentencing is part of a court-ordered reduction of his prison term and a separate agreement with prosecutors that will allow for the distribution of around $41 million in restitution to victims of Enron's collapse. (AP Photo /Houston Chronicle, Melissa Phillip )
HOUSTON (AP) ? One of the country's most notorious financial scandals came to a protracted legal conclusion Friday as ex-Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling ? already in prison for his role in the once-mighty energy giant's collapse ? was resentenced to 14 years as part of a court-ordered reduction and a separate agreement with prosecutors.
Skilling's sentence was reduced by 10 years, and his attorneys say it's likely that with time off for good behavior and other factors he will be released in 2017.
Skilling has been in prison since 2006, when he was sentenced to more than 24 years by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake. But an appeals court vacated his prison term in 2009, ruling that a sentencing guideline was improperly applied. That meant a reduction of as much as nine years.
However, Skilling's resentencing was delayed for years as he unsuccessfully sought to overturn his convictions, including appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Justice Department said that in an effort to resolve a case that's gone on for more than 10 years, it agreed to an additional reduction of about 20 months as part of a deal to stop Skilling from filing any more appeals. Federal prosecutors say the deal will allow for the distribution of $41.8 million of Skilling's assets in restitution to victims of Enron's 2001 collapse.
Even with the reduced sentence, Skilling's prison term is still the longest of those involved in the Enron scandal. He was the highest-ranking executive to be punished. Enron founder Kenneth Lay's similar convictions were vacated after he died of heart disease less than two months after his trial.
Skilling, 59, declined to make statements during Friday's resentencing hearing.
He was convicted in 2006 on 19 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors for his role in the downfall of Houston-based Enron. The company, once the seventh-largest in the U.S., went bankrupt under the weight of years of illicit business deals and accounting tricks.
A one-time visionary, Skilling was vilified by many former Enron employees for denying any wrongdoing.
Former Enron worker Diana Peters, the only victim who spoke at the resentencing hearing, said employees gave their hard work, spirit and trust to Skilling and others at Enron.
"Jeff Skilling betrayed that trust to those employees and played a part in the financial collapse of an amazing company," Peters said.
The U.S. Supreme Court said in 2010 that one of Skilling's convictions was flawed when it sharply curtailed the use of the "honest services" fraud law ? a short addendum to the federal mail and wire fraud statute that makes it illegal to scheme to deprive investors of "the intangible right to honest services."
The high court ruled that prosecutors can use the law only in cases where evidence shows the defendant accepted bribes or kickbacks, and because Skilling's misconduct entailed no such things, he did not conspire to commit honest services fraud.
The Supreme Court told a lower court to decide whether he deserved a new trial; the lower court said no.
Enron's collapse put more than 5,000 people out of work, wiped out more than $2 billion in employee pensions and rendered worthless $60 billion in Enron stock. Its aftershocks were felt across the city and the U.S. energy industry.
___
Follow Juan A. Lozano at http://www.twitter.com/juanlozano70 .
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Friday, May 17, 2013
PFT: Bills expected to name Whaley GM on Thursday
Getty ImagesIt?s becoming more clear that the New England Patriots cut defensive lineman Kyle Love for one reason.? He has Type-2 diabetes.
And while Love could, in theory, pursue legal claims against the team under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act or the Massachusetts equivalent, agent Richard Kopelman tells PFT that Love?s current focus is on getting healthy and finding a new NFL team.
Though Kopelman hasn?t completely ruled out an eventual lawsuit, Kopelman explained that Love has no hard feelings against the team for doing what it believed it needed to do.? From Love?s perspective, if the team doesn?t want him, then he needs to find one who does.
What his most recent team did, per Kopelman, was offer Love two alternatives:? retire for a year or be released.? Though the Pats were willing to waive any ability to recover a portion of his signing bonus if he opted to retired, Love wants to play football.
And so the choice became easy.? He picked the path that gives him a chance to play.
?We have every reason to believe Kyle is going to be well enough to play this year,? Kopelman said.? ?We?d rather be in position of having a chance to play this year versus not having a chance to play this year.?
The period for claiming Love?s contract on waivers expires at 4:00 p.m. ET.? If he?s not claimed, Love becomes a free agent.
Kopelman also explained the communications that resulted in Love?s release.? From the moment the team?s doctors made the diagnosis, the team adopted the ?retire or be released? stance.? Kopelman told the Patriots that ?it?s far too early to make a decision as to whether [Love] can perform his job in September, or even July,? and that ?all indications are that Kyle should be fine in a couple of weeks.?
Still, the Patriots ?reiterated it?s a medical issue and they don?t want to take a chance of Kyle not being healthy.?
While Kopelman has managed to take the high road, someone needs to point out that the Patriots are joyriding on the low one.? Jettisoning an employee who has a disease simply because the team fears that the disease could affect future performance is wrongheaded, unfair, and ultimately illegal.
It sends a bad message to mid-level managers in other industries who spend more time in the sports pages than the business section.? ?It just seems wrong,? one of my family members who has been living with diabetes for years said in an unsolicited text message that buzzed through while I was typing this.? ?It upsets me and confuses me and makes me wonder what other kind of discrimination is out there for someone like me.?
That?s a fair concern.? People with diabetes lead normal lives.? And so at a time when the biggest talking point in the NFL relates to whether a team will accept a gay player, how can any NFL team in good conscience jettison a player due to a medical condition that has no relevance to his ability to perform his job?
Even if Love never takes action, someone should ? either at the league office or in the Patriots? front office.
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Saturday, May 4, 2013
Pakistan's lead prosecutor in Bhutto case killed
Family members and relatives of Pakistani prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfikar who was assassinated hours earlier, load his body into an ambulance from a morgue in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, May 3, 2013. Gunmen killed Pakistan's lead prosecutor investigating the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as he drove to court in the capital on Friday, throwing the case that also involves former ruler Pervez Musharraf into disarray. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Family members and relatives of Pakistani prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfikar who was assassinated hours earlier, load his body into an ambulance from a morgue in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, May 3, 2013. Gunmen killed Pakistan's lead prosecutor investigating the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as he drove to court in the capital on Friday, throwing the case that also involves former ruler Pervez Musharraf into disarray. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
A man comforts the brother of Pakistani prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfikar who was assassinated hours earlier, outside his residence in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, May 3, 2013. Gunmen killed Pakistan's lead prosecutor investigating the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as he drove to court in the capital on Friday, throwing the case that also involves former ruler Pervez Musharraf into disarray. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Pakistani police officers examine the car of prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfikar which was targeted by gunmen in Islamabad, Pakistan on Friday, May 3, 2013. Gunmen killed Pakistan's lead prosecutor investigating the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as he drove to court in the capital on Friday, throwing the case that also involves former ruler Pervez Musharraf into disarray. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)
Pakistani police officers examine the car of prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfikar who was targeted by gunmen in Islamabad, Pakistan on Friday, May 3, 2013. Gunmen killed Pakistan's lead prosecutor investigating the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as he drove to court in the capital on Friday, throwing the case that also involves former ruler Pervez Musharraf into disarray. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)
People comfort a family member of Pakistani prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfikar who was assassinated, at a mortuary in Islamabad, Pakistan on Friday, May 3, 2013. Gunmen killed Pakistan's lead prosecutor investigating the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as he drove to court in the capital on Friday, throwing the case that also involves former ruler Pervez Musharraf into disarray. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)
ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Gunmen killed a Pakistani prosecutor Friday who was leading investigations into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and a brutal attack on civilians in the Indian city of Mumbai.
The assassination in the capital, Islamabad, comes at a sensitive time in Pakistan, as the country prepares for nationwide elections on May 11 amid a spate of Taliban attacks on candidates. In the southern city of Karachi, gunmen on motorcycles killed an anti-Taliban election candidate and his son, and a political activist in two other attacks Friday.
The government prosecutor who was gunned down, Chaudhry Zulfikar Ali, was at the helm of a number of highly controversial cases. The two most prominent included Bhutto's death in 2007 and the 2008 Mumbai attack by Pakistan-based militants that killed 166 people.
The Bhutto case has received renewed attention in recent weeks because of the return of former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf from self-imposed exile. Musharraf, who was in power when she was killed, has been arrested in connection with the case.
Ali was on his way to a court in Rawalpindi, next to Islamabad, when gunmen fired at him, hitting him in the head, shoulder and chest, and then fled in a taxi and on a motorcycle, said police officer Arshad Ali. The prosecutor was shot at least 13 times and his car was pockmarked with bullets and the windshield shattered.
He then lost control of his car, which hit a woman passer-by and killed her, said another police officer, Mohammed Rafiq.
Ali's guard returned fire and is believed to have wounded at least one of the attackers, Rafiq said. The guard also was injured in the attack. Police have launched a search to find and apprehend the gunmen.
Though Pakistan has experienced rampant violence in recent years, it's rare for such an attack to happen in the capital, which is home to high-ranking government and military officials, diplomats and international aid workers.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion will likely fall on Islamic militants.
Bhutto's husband, President Asif Ali Zardari, strongly condemned the prosecutor's slaying and called for a thorough investigation.
Government prosecutors have accused Musharraf of being involved in the Bhutto assassination and not providing enough security to Pakistan's first female prime minister. Musharraf has denied the allegations but is currently under house arrest on the outskirts of Islamabad in connection with the case.
Musharraf blamed the Pakistani Taliban at the time of the attack. Initially the militants denied responsibility, but they eventually said they did it several years later.
The Bhutto case has lingered for years in the Pakistani court system. A number of alleged assailants are on trial but no one has been convicted.
The prosecutor told reporters that he had received death threats recently in connection with the case but would not say who from or what they said. He was headed to a hearing related to Musharraf and the Bhutto case at a court in Rawalpindi when he was killed, police said.
Ali was also the government's lead prosecutor in a case related to the attack on Mumbai that is widely believed to have been carried by the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Pakistan has put seven men on trial on charges they assisted in the Mumbai siege, but the trial has made little progress. India has criticized Pakistan for not doing more to crack down on the militants blamed for the attack. Hafiz Saeed, the head of a group believed to be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, remains free, and many believe he enjoys the protection of the government. Lashkar-e-Taiba was founded years ago with the help of Pakistani intelligence to put pressure on India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Also on Friday, gunmen riding a motorcycle in Karachi shot to death Sadiq Zaman Khattak, who was running for parliament from the Awami National Party, and his six year-old son, said police officer Mohammad Ali.
The attack occurred as Khattak was leaving a mosque after weekly prayers. Four people were wounded, said Ali, the police officer.
The Awami National Party has been repeatedly targeted by the Taliban in the run-up to the election because of its opposition to the militants. The Taliban have threatened two other secular parties as well, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which controls Karachi.
In the second attack in Karachi, gunmen riding on a motorcycle killed a prominent activist from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Mohammad Adil, outside a different mosque, said police officer Mohsin Khan.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The May 11 election is historic because it will mark the first time in Pakistan that a civilian government has finished its term and handed over power in democratic elections. Pakistan has experienced three coups, including the one led by Musharraf in 1999.
__
Associated Press writers Sebastian Abbot and Rebecca Santana in Islamabad and Atif Raza in Karachi, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
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Friday, May 3, 2013
Key protein for firing up central nervous system inflammation identified
May 1, 2013 ? Scientists have identified an influential link in a chain of events that leads to autoimmune inflammation of the central nervous system in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS).
An international team of researchers led by scientists in The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Immunology reported their results in an advance online publication in Nature Medicine.
The researchers spell out the pivotal role of Peli1 in the activation of immune cells called microglia that promote inflammation in the central nervous system in response to tissue damage or invasion by microbes.
"The major implication of discovering a signaling role for Peli1 in this animal model is that it might also be significant in the pathogenesis of MS," said senior author Shao-Cong Sun, Ph.D., professor in MD Anderson's Department of Immunology.
Microglia cells involved in multiple sclerosis
Sun and colleagues found that Peli1 is heavily expressed in microglial cells and promotes their activation and subsequent damaging immune response. Peli1 also protects that autoimmune reaction by initiating the destruction of a protein that otherwise would inhibit inflammation.
Microglia are known to be crucial to the initiation of MS, an immune system assault on nerve fibers called axons and on myelin, the protective sheath around the axons. They also were previously known to play a similar role in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS.
The precise mechanism of this autoimmune-stimulating effect has been unknown. Sun and colleagues fill an important gap with their Peli1 discovery.
Microglia sense tissue damage. They secrete chemokines and inflammatory cytokines in response, drawing infection-fighting T cells into the central nervous system, leading to inflammation.
Infections genetic overreaction that inflames
The authors note that microbial infections are a known environmental trigger for the onset and maintenance of multiple sclerosis and the induction of EAE in mice. Toll-like receptors that detect pathogens play a roll in MS and EAE. They were suspected of involvement in microglial activation and inflammation.
Upon sensing microbes or cell damage, toll-like receptors launch a signaling cascade that activates a variety of genes involved in inflammation and white blood cell homing to the microbes or injury site.
Peli1 is known as a targeting agent, marking proteins with molecules called ubiquitins, ensuring they are functionally modified or found by cellular protein-destruction machinery. In this case, Sun and colleagues found that Peli1 ubiquitinates another targeting agent as a signal, which in turn marks a crucial anti-inflammatory protein for destruction.
The team found: ? Mice with Peli1 knocked out were resistant to EAE. Those with Peli1 developed severe symptoms including a gradual increase in paralysis. ? Mice with intact Peli1 had high levels of microglial activation after EAE began and low levels of resting microglia. Mice with Peli1 knocked out had high levels of resting microglia. ? Expression of proinflammatory chemokines and cytokines was impaired in microglia taken from Peli1 knockout mice. Peli1 sends signal to destroy Traf3
Sun and colleagues then tracked down the role Peli1 plays in protecting one of the molecular networks that is set off when toll-like receptors detect microbes or injury. The MAPK pathway activates a variety of genes involved in inflammation and T cell response.
MAPK is kept in check by a protein called Traf3. The team found that Peli1 signals another ubiquitin ligase that in turn marks Traf3 for destruction, liberating the MAPK network. After EAE is induced, mice with intact Peli1 have a gradual depletion of Traf3 in their microglia. Traf3 accumulated in the microglia of Peli1 knockout mice. EAE was restored in Peli1 knockout mice when Traf3 was inhibited.
Sun said the team is studying the pathway in human multiple sclerosis to replicate their findings and explore the possibilities for potentially treating MS.
Co-authors with Sun are first author Yichuan Xiao, Ph.D., and Jin Jin, Ph.D., Mikyoung Chang, Ph.D., Jae-Hoon Chang, Ph.D., Hongbo Hu, Ph.D., Xiaofei Zhou, George Brittain and Xuhong Cheng, all of MD Anderson's Department of Immunology; Christine Stansberg, Ph.D., and ?lvind Torkildsen, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen and Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway; Xiaodong Wang, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Biological Sciences in China; and Robert Brink, Ph.D., of the Garvan Institute for Medical Research in Darlinghurst, Australia.
This research was funded by grants from the U.S. Institutes of Health (AI057555, AI064639, GM84459 and T32CA009598). MD Anderson also receives a cancer center support grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (P30 CA016672).
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Yichuan Xiao, Jin Jin, Mikyoung Chang, Jae-Hoon Chang, Hongbo Hu, Xiaofei Zhou, George C Brittain, Christine Stansberg, ?ivind Torkildsen, Xiaodong Wang, Robert Brink, Xuhong Cheng, Shao-Cong Sun. Peli1 promotes microglia-mediated CNS inflammation by regulating Traf3 degradation. Nature Medicine, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nm.3111
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Justice Department appeals morning-after case
This undated image made available by Teva Women's Health shows the packaging for their Plan B One-Step (levonorgestrel) tablet, one of the brands known as the "morning-after pill." The Plan B morning-after pill is moving over-the-counter, a decision announced by the Food and Drug Administration just days before a court-imposed deadline. On April 30, 2013, the FDA lowered to 15 the age at which girls and women can buy the emergency contraceptive without a prescription ? and said it no longer has to be kept behind pharmacy counters. Instead, the pill can sit on drugstore shelves just like condoms, but that buyers would have to prove their age at the cash register. (AP Photo/Teva Women's Health)
This undated image made available by Teva Women's Health shows the packaging for their Plan B One-Step (levonorgestrel) tablet, one of the brands known as the "morning-after pill." The Plan B morning-after pill is moving over-the-counter, a decision announced by the Food and Drug Administration just days before a court-imposed deadline. On April 30, 2013, the FDA lowered to 15 the age at which girls and women can buy the emergency contraceptive without a prescription ? and said it no longer has to be kept behind pharmacy counters. Instead, the pill can sit on drugstore shelves just like condoms, but that buyers would have to prove their age at the cash register. (AP Photo/Teva Women's Health)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration on Wednesday appealed a federal judge's order to lift all age limits on who can buy morning-after birth control pills without a prescription.
In appealing the ruling, the administration recommitted itself to a position Obama took during his re-election campaign that younger teens shouldn't have unabated access to emergency contraceptives, despite the insistence by physicians groups and much of his Democratic base that the pill should be readily available.
A day earlier, the Food and Drug Administration lowered the age that people can buy the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill without a prescription to 15 ? younger than the current limit of 17 ? and decided that the pill could be sold on drugstore shelves near the condoms, instead of locked behind pharmacy counters.
That decision appeared to fly in the face of a judge's decision last month that women of any age should be allowed to buy both Plan B and its cheaper generic competition as easily as they can buy aspirin. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York gave the FDA 30 days to comply, and the Monday deadline was approaching fast, prompting the administration on Wednesday to ask the court to put the ruling on hold while it reconsiders.
With the appeal, the Obama administration is making clear that it's willing to ease access to emergency contraception only a certain amount ? not nearly as broadly as doctors' groups and contraception advocates have urged. Still, the FDA decision moving the pill from behind the counter to drugstore shelves reflected a societal shift in the long battle over women's reproductive rights, marking a major milestone for those who believe all forms of birth control should be easy to buy.
Reluctant to get drawn in to a messy second-term spat over social issues, White House officials insisted Wednesday that both the FDA and the Justice Department were acting independently of the White House in deciding how to proceed. But the decision to appeal was certain to irk abortion-rights advocates who say they can't understand why a Democratic president is siding with social conservatives in favor of limiting women's reproductive choices.
"We are deeply disappointed that just days after President Obama proclaimed his commitment to women's reproductive rights, his administration has decided once again to deprive women of their right to obtain emergency contraception without unjustified and burdensome restrictions," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit that prompted Korman's ruling.
Current and former White House aides said Obama's approach to the issue has been heavily influenced by his experience as the father of two school-age daughters. Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius have also questioned whether there's enough data available to show the morning-after pill is safe and appropriate for younger girls, even though physicians groups insist that it is.
In Wednesday's filing, the Justice Department said Korman exceeded his authority and that his decision should be suspended while that appeal is under way, meaning only Plan B One-Step would appear on drugstore shelves until the case is finally settled. If Korman's order isn't suspended during the appeals process, the result would be "substantial market confusion, harming FDA's and the public's interest" as drugstores receive conflicting orders about who's allowed to buy what, the Justice Department concluded.
Rather than take matters into his own hands, the Justice Department argued to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Korman should have ordered the FDA to reconsider its options for regulating emergency contraception. The court cannot overturn the rules and processes that federal agencies must follow "by instead mandating a particular substantive outcome," the appeal states.
The FDA actually had been poised to lift all age limits and let Plan B sell over the counter in late 2011, when Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own scientists. Sebelius said some girls as young as 11 were physically capable of bearing children but shouldn't be able to buy the pregnancy-preventing pill on their own.
Sebelius' move was unprecedented, and Korman had blasted it as election-year politics ? meaning he was overruling not just a government agency but a Cabinet secretary.
More than a year later, neither side in the contraception debate was happy with the FDA's surprise twist, which many perceived as an attempt to find a palatable middle ground between imposing an age limit of 17 and imposing no limit at all.
Any over-the-counter access marks a long-awaited change, but it's not enough, said Dr. Cora Breuner of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which supports nonprescription sale of the morning-after pill for all ages.
"We still have the major issue, which is our teen pregnancy rate is still too high," Breuner said.
Even though few young girls likely would use Plan B, which costs about $50 for a single pill, "we know that it is safe for those under 15," she said.
Most 17- to 19-year-olds are sexually active, and 30 percent of 15- and 16-year-olds have had sex, according to a study published last month by the journal Pediatrics. Sex is much rarer among younger teens. Likewise, older teens have a higher pregnancy rate, but that study also counted more than 110,000 pregnancies among 15- and 16-year-olds in 2008 alone.
Contraception advocates see a double standard. No one is carded when buying a condom, but under the FDA's decision they would have to prove their age when buying a pill to prevent pregnancy if that condom breaks.
"This isn't a compromise. This is wrong," said Cynthia Pearson of the National Women's Health Network.
Social conservatives were outraged by the FDA's move to lower the age limits for Plan B ? as well as the possibility that Korman's ruling might take effect and lift age restrictions altogether.
"This decision undermines the right of parents to make important health decisions for their young daughters," said Anna Higgins of the Family Research Council.
Obama aides bristled at the suggestion that the FDA decision was an attempt at political compromise, insisting the FDA merely responded to an application filed by Plan B's manufacturer. At the same time, however, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama's concern had been about girls younger than 15 having access, suggesting an age limit of 15 might be acceptable.
If a woman already is pregnant, the morning-after pill has no effect. It prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg. According to the medical definition, pregnancy doesn't begin until a fertilized egg implants itself into the wall of the uterus. Still, some critics say Plan B is the equivalent of an abortion pill because it may also be able to prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus, a contention that many scientists ? and Korman, in his ruling ? said has been discredited.
___
Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.
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